The Story of Walls

I want to tell everyone about this wonderful, funny, and great looking short by Pete Oswald and written by Sandeep Sood.

Here's a short synopsis

The Story of Walls is an absurdest history of trade protectionism. We made this short film so that we could point out the obvious: protectionism is absurd.

In ten minutes, our film takes you from ancient civilization to the modern day. Despite its breadth, we succeed in providing the viewer with a thorough education and understanding of our world’s economic history. We describe events that are intriguing, insightful, and mostly falsified.

Pete, when did you start creating The Story of Walls?

My partners and I came up with the concept in May 2009.

Where is your studio located?

Badmash Animation Studios is located in Los Angeles, San Fransisco and Pune, India. We did most of the preproduction here in the states and all of the animation in India. We are a global production.

We animated mostly every scene in Flash. There are a few scenes that we composited in After Effects. I really wanted to explore using two dimensional characters in three dimensional space.

What type of design style where you going for?

I have always been inspired by Disney's short films from the 1950s, specifically "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, Boom." Ward Kimball became the major inspiration on how I directed and designed the film. Also, we looked at many UPA shorts for inspiration.

How many different versions of characters and designs did you go through?

I took a few weeks in the beginning to explore different styles for the film. Due to the tight production schedule, there were very few versions of character designs. We didn't have a lot of time to explore each character. Andy Suriano's storyboard was very tight. We kept pretty close to some of his original sketches.

Being the Director, did the final look and feel of the film meet your expectations?

The final look of the film totally exceeded my expectations. We were fortunate to work with many talented people so I was able to trust everyone. I am a firm believer that when you hire talented people and allow them to do what they do best, you will get a successful outcome.

Have you been able to received some awards for the film?

We just recently got nominated for an Annie Award in the "The Best Animated Short Subject" category. We just started the film festival submission process. We are hoping the attend many festivals in the upcoming year.

What film are you planning to do next?

I have a few ideas brewing, but I need to find funding first.

Is there a way to buy The Story of Walls on DVD or Blu-ray?

Not yet. We will Hopefully have a DVD available to buy soon. I will keep everyone posted.

Thank you so much Pete for talking about your amazing short as well as letting us see the production art. The Story of Walls is one of my favorite shorts that I have seen. The mixture of Pete's art direction, the comedy, as well great storytelling makes this short, one to see. I hope everyone can get a chance to view it. I'm looking forward to see what Pete comes up with next.To see even more pictures, go to Pete's blog at http://peteoswald.blogspot.com/